• workerONE@lemmy.world
    21·
    17 hours ago

    They have good neck mobility, able to reach high up so I’d say they could hold their head above the water like a snorkel

    • imadethis@fedinsfw.appEnglish
      5·
      16 hours ago

      The issue with that is it would create a very large lever arm (not really a lever arm, but it’s the closest way I have to describe it) with the buoyancy force of the neck disappearing unless the neck is placed in the water, and if the giraffe is holding it’s head up higher, the angle necessary to have the neck in the water while the body (the other significant buoyancy provider) is also in the water would dunk even more of the giraffe’s face in the water, almost certainly plunging the giraffe’s nostrils and mouth below the surface.

    • m0darn@lemmy.ca
      2·
      16 hours ago

      So you see how its front legs droop so much because they’re so heavy? This means its torso is tilted far forwards and so it can’t really lift its neck much more.

      • workerONE@lemmy.world
        1·
        16 hours ago

        But giraffes can stand on flat ground and reach their head almost straight up above them. I tried to match the body position in the comparison image I made. I’m not sure why they think the giraffe’s legs would be so far forward but it doesn’t matter because it shows neck mobility. Anyways, in their image the neck and head are horizontal to the top of the giraffes back. You know they can lift their head higher than horizontal with their body. edit: I think their image may actually be correct because the weight of their neck would need to be in the water so it doesn’t push them underwater. They would need to tilt their head up to breathe. But yeah this has nothing to do with neck mobility.